Robot-assisted surgical devices maker Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) defended its da Vinci technology during a liability lawsuit this week, questioning an expert witness who testified that the device wasn’t at fault for death of patient Fred Taylor.
Intuitive witness Eric Kiesel, a forensic pathologist, testified that the patient died from heart disease, not from complications during a prostatectomy performed with the da Vinci system, Bloomberg reported.
Taylor’s wife claims in her lawsuit against the company that Intuitive provided insufficient training to physicians in order to spur higher rates of robot-assisted procedures, even among physicians who weren’t ready to perform such operations unsupervised.
Fred Taylor in 2008 underwent robot-assisted prostatectomy by surgeon Scott Bildsten, who was performing the prostatectomy with the da Vinci system unsupervised for the 1st time. Taylor allegedly suffered a rectal laceration, forcing doctors to resort to traditional surgery and then emergency procedures.
Taylor’s attorneys questioned Kiesel about the impact of that surgery and the complications that may have contributed to Taylor’s death. Kiesel maintained that heart disease and poor lifestyle choices, and not procedure-related complications, were Taylor’s true "death sentence," according to Bloomberg
"[Taylor] was a time bomb ready to go off. He could have gone off at any time," Kiesel said during the trial. "I would say, in all honesty, Mr. Taylor was lucky to live until age 71."
There are at least a dozen lawsuits against Intuitive Surgical and the da Vinci robot-assisted surgical system, some from patients who claim they were permanently injured and others filed by families of patients who died after undergoing surgery. Taylor’s was the 1st case to go to trial, after an unsuccessful bid by Intuitive to have the case dismissed as "an educational malpractice claim," which most states don’t accept, according to Intuitive’s lawyers. Washington Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jay Roof concluded that state laws require that medical device makers train healthcare providers on proper use of their products.
